Grand Theatre postpones 2020-21 season

The Grand Theatre has announced production postponements of both of its stages, along with the Jeans ‘n Classics concert series

THE GRAND THEATRE has announced the postponement of its 2020-21 season due to the cOVID-19 pandemic. The theatre issued a statement Wednesday saying the postponement impacts production on both of its stages, along with the Jeans ‘n Classics concert series.

The theatre’s cross-Canada tour of Cabaret is also postponed.

The season was set to begin in October and has now been pushed back to the fall of 2021.

“The health of our staff, guest artists, patrons and volunteers remains our priority. Planning large productions such as ours against unknown timing is very difficult and financially too risky. For all of these reasons, we would rather he safe than sorry,” said the theatre’s artistic director, Dennis Garnhum.

The Grand Theatre is referring to its postponement as “A Grand Intermission,” and says during the downtime it will provide its board of directors and leaderships teams with an opportunity to listen, to learn and to take action toward the systemic racism that exists within Canadian theatre companies, including the Grand.

“We will he examining the theatre through a different lens and making changes to all aspects of what we do at the Grand ― from what we program on our stages, how we engage with BIPOC audiences, board and senior leadership, recruitment and more. We know that statements of support mean nothing without action, and it is action to which we are committed,” said Garnhum. “We will be examining the theatre through a different lens and making changes to all aspects of what we do,” said Garnhum.

A new lobby will also be in the works during the downtime, as well as most of the backstage spaces.

“There are specific funds that have been directed to the renovation that can only he used for this purpose,” said the Grand’s executive director, Deb Harvey. “Until we are ready to produce and present on our stages and welcome our audiences hack, we feel that this is the best possible use of the time.”

The renovation is expected to take six months to complete.

A working group has been established to develop a plan to keep Londoners engaged and entertained through this period of intermission. An announcement of those plans will follow in coming weeks.